


To be Namikaze

by ZeroTech90



Category: Naruto
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-30
Updated: 2019-09-30
Packaged: 2020-11-08 06:13:35
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,701
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20830709
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZeroTech90/pseuds/ZeroTech90
Summary: What little changes could take place if Naruto had known about his parents before he did in canon? While not becoming a genius overnight, a more confident and self-assured Naruto could begin to show. With a couple more friends to help him during his academy days, Naruto isn't as dumb as he could have been. What could Naruto do if he had more driving him than simply needing acknowledgement?





	To be Namikaze

**Author's Note:**

> This fic will diverge from canon in a few ways. Everyone is 4 years older; this doesn't change much beside how old everyone is as opposed to how old the canon story would have them be. I will also have Kakashi attempt to play a part in Narutos life early, because I just don't see how he doesn't manage it in the 12 years between the death of Minato and Kushina and Narutos graduation. The fic will mostly be from Narutos point of view, but will shift to Sasuke and Hinata as required. 
> 
> Please comment on this fic guys, I'm a pretty noob writer so I really could use some advice, even if it's just stuff you guys would like to see any kind of advice I get will be appreciated.

Namikaze:

Naruto Namikaze yawns as he waits for his kettle to finish heating, an opened cup of ramen sitting beside it. The kettle finally whistles loudly letting him know the water was ready, he eagerly begins to pour the water into the ramen cup, and now faces the most frustrating wait. A sigh, and he idly walks over to his mirror, and looks on. He had grown a lot over the years, especially the 4 years between entering the academy and at 16 now. With a better diet, this was a celebratory breakfast ramen, and some good training he had caught up to a lot of the other guys in glass in terms of height. Standing at a nice 172cm tall, his body had filled out as well, nice and muscular if he did say so himself. His face had lost a bit of the baby fat that had plagued him during his early teens, and it was a little more angular with a stronger jaw. Even his clothes had taken a bit of a change, though not of his own volition, Kakashi had dumped some clothes on him one day, and made sure his orange jumpsuit had vanished. It wasn’t completely without orange of course, but at least he wasn’t a walking target as Kakashi had called him. An orange shirt, a black hoodie, black pants with plenty of pockets and blue shinobi sandals. Kakashi had said he could have the orange shirt if he kept the hoodie to cover it.

He walks over to his table, pulls open the top of the ramen cup and sighs happily as he sees the steam rise up. He takes a seat and digs in quickly, eyes flickering up to the clock. Plenty of time to make it. He wonders at how much his life had changed, and about every change had been for the better. He’s not entirely sure when he remembers noticing the hate he had received. His earliest memory was at 4 and having a woman curse at him and kick him out of her sweets shop. For almost 5 years he had felt the villagers hate and then it had abated somewhat, the Hokage had an Anbu take him to his office and he had explained to Naruto that he was going to tell him who his parents were. Explaining that he had kept it from him because his father had acquired a lot of enemies in his life, and if the knowledge of his parentage had been common knowledge then his life would have been in danger, emphasising that he was only telling him now because the information had been leaked. Naruto had been stunned, unable to talk for probably the first time in his life. His father was Minato Namikaze, his mother Kushina Uzumaki, though admittedly he hadn’t heard her name before and he didn’t care, he had parents and they had died saving him from the Kyubi, sealing it inside of him because Kushina had been near death. He had asked if he could take his father’s family name, and the Hokage had agreed.

Shortly after being told of his parents he had met Kakashi. Kakashi had explained who he was, and why he had not introduced himself before this, with the death of his team and also because it would be too risky to have him interact with a random blond haired orphan that resembled Minato a little too much. Naruto learned that Kakashi had lost nearly everyone important to him, and later on had come to realise that Kakashi still dealt with the loss of those people. They got close, though not as close as Naruto would like, it was still good to have someone other than the Hokage who took an interest in him and made sure that he had enough food and clothes. He viewed the man as his brother, and called him such which Kakashi allowed and even returned. Naruto finishes his ramen, runs into the bathroom and brushes his teeth quickly. Double checking his weapons pouch and then he’s out the door and heading towards the Uchiha District.

Probably the oddest relationship Naruto possessed was his friendship with Sasuke Uchiha. The two could not be more different, but were almost as close as brothers. It had started when they first attended the Academy, introductions were done and almost every girl, and a good portion of the guys, had swooned over Sasuke. Naruto had hated how they seemed to coo and squeal over everything he did, he could admit that Sasuke was better than him, but it was ridiculous. It came down to Taijutsu spars after a couple weeks since classes had begun, and Naruto had gotten paired with Sasuke, much to Narutos delight. The spar had begun, and Naruto had wasted little time getting in and beating the crap out of Sasuke, though he had taken quite a bit of damage himself. The win had gone to Sasuke, and Naruto glared at the squealing girls in annoyance. His glare was interrupted by Sasuke, who was holding out his hand with a smile on his bruised face. “Good fight.” He had said.

Naruto had looked at him in shock. He’d figured he would be sour about getting his face all messed up. Naruto had taken his hand and shaken it, a smile in return. “Yeah, you too.” Naruto had replied. 

They’d been friends ever since, even making it through the Uchiha Massacre. Naruto couldn’t believe that Itachi had been the one to do it. He’d met Itachi a few times over the years, and while a little too stiff for Narutos liking he didn’t think he’d be the kinda to slaughter an entire clan of people. The way Sasuke talked about him, both in frustration at the comparisons, and the way he clearly loved his brother had not indicated someone unhinged, though admittedly Naruto wasn’t the smartest person so who knows. He walks down a street towards the entrance of the Uchiha District, finding Sasuke walking towards him as he does so. A brief nod is exchanged and it’s onto the Academy. Sasuke was a bit taller than Naruto at 178cms, his dark hair and slightly pale skin contrasting one another, he wasn’t as well built as Naruto though, seeming to stay lean rather than build up more muscle despite sharing a training regime. He wore a dark grey shirt with the Uchiha crest on the back, blue pants with black sandals.

“Are you ready?” Sasuke asks him. It’s the Genin exam day, the day they’ve been waiting for.

“Ehh…I guess so.” Naruto says back, nervously scratching his chin. He’s gotten a lot better since Sasuke became his friend, but he still struggles with the theory based stuff.

“Just don’t panic and you’ll be fine.” Sasuke says, with a smile on his face. His stupid friend would be fine; he isn’t that bad after all.

They keep walking, eventually arriving at the Academy gates. Several students milling around the courtyard out the front. They walk through them and into the classroom, heading straight for Sasukes preferred corner seat, in the front row and next to the window. Naruto takes his seat on the seat beside him, acting as repellent for Sasukes more dedicated fan girls. The classroom slowly begins to fill up, and eventually it happens. Pink hair, a pretty face, and a bright red dress bursts through the door, closely followed by a platinum blonde, equally as pretty, and purple clad girl. Sakura and Ino, Sasukes loudest and most dedicated fans. They do their usual shrieking at one another, and demand Naruto move from his seat. He doesn’t, and he never has. He wishes they’d just stop for one day, putting his head into his arms as he lays them on the desk. He’s saved by further torture by screeching teen girl, by the timely arrival of Iruka. Thank the gods Naruto thinks.

Iruka quickly gives a speech about the exam, how far they’ve come and how he’s sure they’ll all do fine. Naruto smiles as he listens. Whilst not overly close, Iruka is the only teacher he’s ever liked, the only one who was ever fair to him. Iruka begins to pass out the test papers, and once they’re all done he tells them to begin. Sweat beads on Narutos brow as he goes over the worst part of the test for him. Not even 5 minutes in and he’s sending silent a silent thank you to Sasuke, he’d have failed this without his coaching through the years, his brain hurts from all the reading, but he pushes through. Soon, Iruka calls time, and Naruto breaths out a sigh of relief. 

“Well?” Sasuke asks him, looking over at his friend.

“I think I did okay.” Naruto says, a grin on his face.

Sasuke has a small smile on his face, well a small Sasuke smile which is basically just an upward twitch of his lips. He goes back to staring out the window, and Naruto waits patiently, for him, for Iruka to call them outside for the practical side. Naruto felt confident with the rest of the exam, it was only the theory based part where he struggled. Iruka comes back a few minutes later and takes them outside for the physical portion, to which everyone but Shikamaru and Sakura seem pleased. The class files out and the first thing up is kunai and shuriken throwing. The list goes alphabetically so Naruto and Sasuke are both last. Sasukes name is called, and he of course gets a near perfect score. Naruto goes and gets a decent score, probably in the top 5 of the class.

Next is the Taijutsu portion, Narutos favourite because he’s only outclassed by Sasuke in that area, and even then it’s not by a whole lot. He hears Sakura’s name called out, and wonders which girl got to fight her. He’s hoping its Ino and they might get a show. Unfortunately for Sakura, it’s Hinata, not only the top girl in Taijutsu, but one of the top students over all. While lacking the ability to ever close out a fight, the petite Hinata still had incredible skill, easily countering and putting opponents on the back foot, failing that she was also very graceful and hard to hit. The fight begins, and it goes about as expected. Sakura isn’t bad of course, she’s average at best and if she could use jutsu she might do a little better. It’s clear though that she doesn’t train, and that Hinata does. Hinata picks her apart slowly, not even really needing to use hard hits; simply not allowing Sakura to touch her is enough. Eventually, Hinata sweeps Sakura off of her feet with a leg sweep, and points her hand at Sakuras throat in the spear like form that Sasuke had explained as their Taijutsu style, the Gentle Fist which usually utilises chakra to be incredibly effective.

Naruto smiles at Hinata and holds up his thumb as she walks by, and the very pretty girl blushes a little bit, but offers him a smile and nod in return, before quickly running down the line. Naruto sighs, he’s tried to talk to her before, as she’s the only one that isn’t a banshee about Sasuke, but he always finds it incredibly difficult to drag her into a conversation. He figures she just isn’t much of a talker like Sasuke, but more polite about it than he is. Eventually, Sasuke is called up against Shino, who while possessing a very good foundation for Taijutsu with average speed, strength and technique, simply doesn’t really stand out because he is average in those areas. Sasuke is not average in any of those areas, and Naruto begins to feel sorry for Shino as he watches Sasuke slowly pick him apart. The fight only lasting as long as it does because Shino is actually smart enough to know when he is outclassed, and begins to try to drag the fight out as long as he can. Shino is soon beaten though, nodding at Sasuke in as friendly a manner as he can, and walking off the field.

Naruto hears his named called out, and he leaps up energetically. Bouncing back and forth as he faces his opponent, Kiba. They’ve often clashed over 2nd spot in the Taijutsu ranking, with Naruto more often than not coming away with the win. He hasn’t relinquished the spot for over a year, and he intends to win their last match as well. 

“Hope you’re ready to lose this time Naruto.” Kiba calls out arrogantly, his stance low as usual.

“Oh shut it. When was the last time you won exactly?” He throws back at Kiba, an arrogant smirk on his face, a tactic he’d learned from Sasuke, piss heated opponents off, and throw them off their game.

Kiba growls in annoyance, and hears Iruka call for them to begin just as he’s leaping at Naruto. Kiba has the advantage in speed and ferocity, but that’s nothing new. Naruto has the advantage in thinking clearly, strength and durability. Kiba though, isn’t dumb either, and knows fully well he needs to end the fight before it becomes a battle of attrition, which he will lose every time. Nobody wears down Naruto. Naruto has to dodge a vicious swipe of Kibas, throwing out a kick that barely connects. He wished he had Sasukes speed, then he could actually go on the attack. While not slow, Naruto simply wasn’t a real speed freak, at least not yet. Kiba comes in again, aiming at Narutos chest with a hard tackle. Naruto growls as he stops him, using his strength to hold Kiba, lift and then slam him into the ground. Kiba is winded badly, and Naruto goes to punch him in the face, holding it just in front of his nose as Iruka calls the fight. Naruto opens his hand, offering it to Kiba, who is still winded, but glares at him and walks off. Oh well, it’s not his fault Kiba lost. He hops down and goes to stand next to Sasuke, who offers him a nod. Basically high praise from him.

They then head back into the classroom for the jutsu portion of the exam, and one of Narutos most hated parts. He had been unable to perform the basic Clone Technique for years. It wasn’t until he complained to Kakashi about it one day that he had found out why. He had huge chakra reserves, and not just for his age, for a person in general. At 13 he had reserves about twice as big as Kakashis own, admittedly on the small side for a Jonin, reserves. Thus, Kakashi had taught him the Shadow Clone technique, which he told him simply required large reserves rather than good control. Which led to a confident Naruto smiling at Sasuke when Iruka called for his friend to come into the other room. When his own name is called, he follows Iruka into the other room.

“Okay Naruto, I want you to perform a Replacement with that chair over there.” Iruka says with a smile, pointing at a chair on the other side of the room.

Naruto performs the hand signs, and vanishes with a poof of smoke, a chair in his place. He then does it again, replacing himself with the chair once again. Iruka smiles and makes a note on his clipboard.

“Excellent. Now, if you could please perform the Transformation Technique.” Iruka says, eyes on Naruto.

Naruto again performs the hand signs, and transforms into a perfect replica of Iruka. The instructor walks around him, taking in the details and nodding.

“Excellent again, Naruto.” He says, jotting down on his clipboard and Naruto releases the technique.

“Now, the last technique. Please perform the Clone Technique, but take your time.” Iruka says in a more encouraging tone, knowing Naruto struggles with it.

“Actually Iruka, is it okay if I use the Shadow Clone technique instead? I mean it doesn’t exactly specify what type of Clone is required right?” Naruto asks him, remembering what Kakashi had told him to say.

Iruka is surprised, but then a grin splits his face. “Yes Naruto that is fine. A Shadow Clone will more than suffice.” Iruka says.

Naruto grins, and does the hand sign, and with a poof of smoke, 5 Narutos stand in a line before Iruka, who looks around and nods, tapping their shoulders and grinning as he jots down on his clipboard.

“Well done Naruto. You figured out a way around your issue, I’m very proud to offer you this headband.” Iruka says, as he goes to his desk and grabs a headband, heading back to Naruto and handing it to him.

“You pass.” Iruka says, as Naruto takes the headband, and simply holds it with a large grin.

“Thank you Iruka.” Naruto says with a bit of emotion in his voice, as he offers his teacher a nod and grin, turning away and walking out the door.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------

Naruto walks out and sees Sasuke waiting in the hall for him. They eye each other and then smile, nodding at one another. Narutos eyes are shining, and he feels incredibly thankful towards Sasuke and Kakashi, though neither of them would really want to hear it.

“Thanks.” Naruto says to him, knowing his friend will feel awkward if he gets too emotional. It was hard being a heart-on-your-sleeve kind of person with such emotionally reserved people.

Sasuke simply nods at him, and they begin to walk out of the Academy. They go through the courtyard, dodging doting families and friends of the graduates, and the consoling of the failures. They walk out of the Academy gates and head towards Narutos apartment, as it’s closer than Sasukes. They walk in, Sasuke plopping down on Narutos couch, whilst he makes some tea and grabbing some snacks for them. Once the tea is done he brings it over to the couch and they talk a little bit.

“So who do you think we’ll get stuck with?” Naruto asks Sasuke around a mouth full of potato chips.

Sasuke shrugs. “Who knows? As long as it isn’t Sakura or Ino I don’t care.” He says, eating the chips much slower and not talking with a full mouth.

Naruto nods at that, it would be a nightmare to have either one of those girls on their team. He can just imagine how annoying it would be to finally have the chance for quiet dashed by being paired with one of them. Admittedly he had a crush for Sakura a few years ago, but that had been quickly beaten into the ground by the girls seeming hated for him. No, he would much rather anyone else, even the ever lazy Shikamaru would be a better choice, at least he was quiet. Naruto then thinks.

“So is it always two guys and a girl?” He asks Sasuke.

“Hn. I think so, unless there are uneven numbers either way.” Sasuke replies, sipping his tea.

“Well we could get lucky and get Hinata. She’s okay, if really weird.” Naruto says, pushing more chips into his mouth.

Sasuke thinks on it, and shakes his head. “I don’t think we will. If you’d been dead last there would have been a chance, but seeing as you’re probably gonna get top 10 it won’t happen. She’ll get top Kunoichi easily.” He reasons to his friend.

Narutos face falls, and he sighs. “Oh well. Maybe we’ll get lucky…” He says, though he doesn’t feel it. He supposes he should simply accept getting to be on a team with Sasuke and be happy. He only knew about that because Kakashi had basically told him that team work was the most highly rated aspect of team selections, and since he was the only person Sasuke would willingly work with it was almost a shoe in that they’d be on a team together. 

Their talking devolves into silence, something Naruto doesn’t find normal but tries his best to be quiet for Sasukes sake. Whilst close, Sasuke still wasn’t much for wasting words, only speaking when needed or when it suited him. Naruto on the other hand could be downright chatty, and Sasukes biggest and proudest accomplishment in their years of friendship was getting him to calm down a little bit. At some point there is a knock on the door, and Naruto yells out for Kakashi to come inside. He knows it’s Kakashi because nobody else ever visits. A light grey mop of hair pokes its head in, and he waves at them as he makes his way over to the couch, sitting down on an armchair that he had provided Naruto himself, and then promptly claimed as his personal chair.

“So, I’m assuming you both have passed, in that case congratulations, and please accept these.” He says, closing his eye to indicate he is actually smiling beneath the mask, and handing them two wrapped gifts. Naruto gets a midsized box, and Sasuke a much longer box. Naruto looks up at Kakashi, and sees him nod.

Naruto rips his box open quickly, and pulls out what appears to be a large Tanto with a black grip and sheath, and a book under it. Naturally Naruto spends more time looking at the Tanto, feeling its weight, and eyeing the blade. “Thanks Kakashi!” Naruto cries out happily.

“There is a book as well.” His brother says with a long suffering tone, but he’s smiling as well.

Naruto nods abashedly, and then picks the book out of the box. He reads the title, Beginners Sealing, and puts it down. “Sealing?” he asks Kakashi.

With a nod towards Naruto, he begins to explain. “Both your parents were masters in the art, and taught me what they could, though I am far from an expert I figured you might want to try?” He says to Naruto with a smile.

Narutos face lights up, and his eyes get a little misty. He leaps at Kakashi, wrapping him in a hug, despite knowing Kakashi wasn’t one for physical contact. His brother sighs, and rubs his head a little bit.

Meanwhile, Sasuke is calmly opening his long box. He has an idea of what it is, but doesn’t let it show. After he has it out, he sees a rather nice looking Katana. The blade is long, and the handle is red, the sheath a plain black. Looking up at the suffering Kakashi, still wrapped in Narutos arms, he nods. 

“Thank you Kakashi, it seems well made.” He comments, knowing the man would know a thing or two about weapons, though Sasukes knowledge is rudimentary at best, he can tell a good blade when he sees it.

Kakashi returns the nod. “You’re welcome and it is well made and perfectly serviceable.” He says.

After Kakashi manages to unwrap Naruto from him, they sit down and talk. Kakashi giving them his opinion on what the some of the teams will likely be. He also says they will likely get someone who can become a good support, whilst also being able to engage in combat as they’re both quite heavily focused on combat. It’s soon late, they cook dinner and eat, with Kakashi wishing them luck with team placements and leaving. Sasuke also leaves a bit later, telling Naruto he will see him tomorrow. Naruto then showers, brushing his teeth and heading to bed. He struggles to sleep he’s so excited, but eventually he drifts off and sleeps.

The next morning Naruto leaps out of bed, gets dressed, has some toast and then heads to the Uchiha District, he’s early and finds a grumpy Sasuke still eating breakfast. Sasuke makes him sit down and be quiet while he finishes his breakfast, and then brushes his teeth before walking out of his house towards the Academy for the last time. Sasuke endures Narutos excited chattering with as much patience as he can, though he occasionally snaps at Naruto to shut up, much to said boys enjoyment. They reach the Academy, walking into class and taking their seat. The class begins to fill, Sakura and Ino both actually just sit down quietly for once, it seems everyone is as excited as they are. Iruka walks in, and gives a speech about how proud he is to have been their teacher for their 4 years, and how he knows they will all do him proud on their Genin teams. With that said, he begins to go through the list.

Naruto is only barely focusing on what Iruka is saying, his ears only perked up and ready for his or Sasukes name. Iruka makes his way from the first team, and finally reaches Team 7.

“Team 7 shall contain: Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha…” Iruka says.

Naruto and Sasukes eyes lock and grin. A shared thought of ‘Please someone good’ goes through their minds.

“And Hinata Hyuga.” Iruka finishes off. Naruto and Sasuke grin and high five happily, the most emotion Sasuke has shown in a long time.

“Team 8 shall contain: Shino Aburame, Kiba Inuzuka and Sakura Haruno. Your Jonin sensei will be Kurenai Yuhi. Team 9 is still in circulation so Team 10 shall contain: Shikamaru Nara, Choji Akimichi and Ino Yamanaka. Your Jonin sensei will be Asuma Sarutobi.” Iruka finishes off, putting down his clipboard and smiling. “I would like to say once more, that it has been an honour and a privilege to be your teacher. I hope you all do well. Please wait here for your Jonin sensei to pick you up.” He says, before walking from the class.

Naruto and Sasuke look around the room, and see plenty of people getting up and walking over to their now team mates. Naruto looks over at Hinata, sitting on her own on the other side of class. “Hey Hinata! Come sit with us.” He says with a grin.

He sees the girl blush again, but nod and walk over to them. Hinata is a little on the short side at 160cms, she has long blue/black hair, a pretty almost ovular face, fair skin, the almost white eyes of her clan, and a rather developed body which was much the envy of basically every girl in class, and the subject of many of the boys dreams. She is wearing a slightly loose purple and grey jacket, blue pants and black heels. She sits beside Naruto, her face still red. “Hello.” She manages to say with a shy smile.

Sasuke nods at her. “Looks like we’re going to be a team for a while. At least we got the girl who can actually fight.” He says with his small grin.

“Actually fight? She kicks ass. I bet she could take you down if she really tried.” Naruto says in a loud voice, grinning at Sasuke.

Sasuke simply scoffs and turns to look back out the window, the way he usually does when he can’t deal with Narutos energetic moments. This leaves Naruto with just Hinata to talk to. 

“So Hinata, are you happy with our team?” He asks her, knowing she doesn’t really have many friends, and most of those are in other teams, probably when he wasn’t paying attention.

“Uhh yes, I mean I just hope I do not let the team down.” She manages to get out.

“Why would you let us down? You’re really strong, you kicked Sakuras ass today!” Naruto says, not really understanding why the girl was talking herself down, she was good.

Hinata blushes again, her eyes flicker from left to right, looking for something to stare at as she is struggling with being so close to Naruto. “Well, you both are so strong and well…I’m not.” She says to him in a quiet tone, not meeting his eyes.

Narutos brow furrows at her words. He really doesn’t understand her, so he simply shrugs. “Well I think you’re pretty strong, but even if you’re not just stick with us and you’ll be a badass in no time.” He says with a bright grin.

Sasuke scoffs loudly, causing Naruto to spin around and begin to argue with him. Hinata simply smiles at their easy relationship, wishing she had the same. She shouldn’t think like that though, she had gotten her one wish, to be on his team. She silently laments that she isn’t on Kurenais team, the woman having taken to escorting her to school every day, but she knows that Kurenai would be incredibly happy for her, and encourage her to build a friendship with Naruto. She intends to do just that. Time passes, and eventually the Jonin begin to arrive, taking their teams with them and leaving Team 7 on their own. The clock continues to tick away, and Naruto is growing annoyed, letting his annoyance be known by complaining loudly.

“This stupid sensei better hurry up if they know what’s good for them.” Naruto grouses loudly.

Hinata chuckles softly. “I’m sure they will be here soon Naruto.” She says in a placating tone, silently cheering that she said that whole sentence without struggle.

Sasuke is still looking out the window, apparently having learned to completely block out Narutos voice. In reality, he too has taken note of the time, and is annoyed. Time continues to pass, and eventually it has been nearly two and a half hours.

Naruto is leaning on his arms, which rest on the table. He has a sour look on his face as he waits for his Jonin. What kind of Jonin is this late anyway? He asks himself, whilst turning to look at Sasuke. Then somethings begin to click together. An incredibly late sensei, he always gets a team, he hadn’t seen him yet, and Sasuke will get a Sharingan. As he’s about to cry out, the door opens and a grey mop of hair pokes in. “Yo.” Is all his infuriatingly late brother says.

\------------------------------------------------------------

“I KNEW IT!” Naruto cries out with a laugh, pointing at Kakashi who simply smiles with his single eye.

“Right…” He says dubiously. “Meet me on the roof.” He tells the three, and then vanishes in a puff of smoke.

Sasuke sighs, pushing himself off of the table. “We should have known.” He says to Naruto, as they begin to walk out of the room and up the stairs, much to Hinatas confusion.

“I know. It all made sense just before he walked in. Late sensei, he always has a team, we hadn’t seen him yet, the Sharingan.” Naruto says, explaining his simple thought process.

Sasuke nods and sees Hinatas confused look. “Kakashi is Narutos brother. Well…not blood brother but still. We know about him and when we didn’t see him grab a team before us we should have figured it out.” Sasuke says to the girl as they begin to walk up the stairs and onto the roof.

Kakashi is sitting on a rail when they get up there, and he gestures for them to sit down. “So, introductions. Tell me your likes, dislikes, hobbies and…dreams for the future.” He says while looking at them, and settling on Naruto.

“Naruto, you first.” He says with a smile.

“Okay! I’m Naruto Namikaze. I like ramen, training, my brother and my friends. I dislike how long it takes for water to boil and ramen to cook, oh and mean people. My hobbies are training and gardening. My dream for the future is to surpass my dad as Hokage.” He says loudly and full of confidence.

Hinata chuckles at his energy, before looking back at Kakashi, just as he points at Sasuke. “Next.” He says.

“Sasuke Uchiha. I like training, tomatoes and I guess an annoying blond friend. I dislike a lot of things, but mostly annoying women. My hobby is training. My dream for the future, it’s more of a goal really. I need to restore the Uchiha Clan, and kill a certain man.” He says with finality. 

Hinata, Naruto and Kakashi are all well aware of who he’s talking about, and nobody comments on it. Kakashi then looks at her and nods. “Next.” He says.

Hinata blushes slightly and nods. “I am Hinata Hyuga. I like cinnamon rolls, and…” She says with her eyes twitching towards Naruto ever so slightly, only enough for someone like Kakashi to pick up. “My hobby is pressing flowers. My dream for the future…is to become a strong Kunoichi.” She says.

“Good. Well, I’m Kakashi Hatake, I like a lot of things, and I dislike some things. My hobbies…I have lots of hobbies. As for my dreams for the future…I don’t really feel like telling you those.” He says in his infuriatingly calm tone.

Naruto simply laughs at him. More than accustomed to his oddities, only Hinata would be confused right now, as even Sasuke has at least been told about the strange things Kakashi does.

“Well then, with that out of the way. We get to the exam.” Kakashi says with his eyes on his team.

“Exam? But we already passed our exam.” Naruto says with some confusion, his brow furrowed.

“You passed the Academy exam yes. That only means you have the potential to become a Genin, it doesn’t mean you actually will. Tomorrow at 8am meet at Training Ground 7 for your survival exam. Skip breakfast too, you’ll just vomit it up.” Kakashi says with a grin and a wave, vanishing in a puff of smoke.

The three Genin look at one another with some confusion and fear. This was unheard of. They all stand up, making their way down the stairs once more, and out into the courtyard.

“Any idea what this could be?” Sasuke asks Naruto, knowing it’s unlikely but hoping all the same.

“No idea. He’s never mentioned what happens, but considering he’s never actually had a team I don’t think many of them would have passed.” Naruto says with some fear in his voice.

Hinata can feel her stomach churning, she feels so anxious she doesn’t even say a word as they leave the Academy for the last time. She can only think about how badly she’ll do tomorrow, how she’ll drag her team down. Naruto and Sasuke continue to discuss the possibilities, and when Hinata reaches the street she takes to reach the Hyuga Compound she stops.

“I-I will see you tomorrow then.” She says, stuttering again due to her nerves.

Naruto and Sasuke both look back at her, smile and wave. “Yeah, see you tomorrow Hinata.” Naruto says with a bright smile, which manages to get Hinata smiling as well.

Naruto and Sasuke make their way to Narutos apartment, walking mostly in silence as they reach it, heading inside and having some tea. Eventually they get back on the topic of the survival exam.

“So we know it’ll probably be difficult, but it could also be something unexpected.” Sasuke says, theorising in his head.

Naruto looks at him, his brow crinkling in confusion. “Why unexpected?” He asks Sasuke.

“Well we know he’s had at least 6 teams of graduates, because as you said he always has a team. All of them have seemingly failed and surely at least one of them would be able to pass if it was just hard right?” He asks Naruto.

Naruto nods at Sasuke, following his line of reasoning thus far, he nods for him to continue. 

“Well that means that it’s likely something that people don’t expect, or don’t consider. More of a hidden test so to speak. We should be ready for anything tomorrow.” Sasuke says, sighing and standing up as it was getting late. “Get some sleep, I’ll see you tomorrow. Don’t skip breakfast either, we might need our energy.” He tells Naruto as he walks out the door with a wave.

Naruto nods at his friend as he leaves. While he isn’t stupid anymore, he definitely leaves the thinking to Sasuke most times. His area of expertise was more spontaneous fits of brilliance than the analytical logic based reasoning of Sasuke. If Sasuke says to eat breakfast and prepare for anything, the Naruto will listen. He has ramen for dinner, showers and then lies on his bed, reading over the book of seals Kakashi had given him yesterday. None of it makes sense of course, but Kakashi had said it wouldn’t begin to make sense until he was about half way through the book. After going over a few pages, Naruto sighs and puts it aside. Setting his alarm clock, and double checking that it’s set, he stretches and then goes to sleep.

The next morning finds Naruto walking with Sasuke towards the training ground. Both quiet, but neither hungry as they’d both eaten a little bit. Arriving, they see that Hinata is there already. 

“Good morning Hinata!” Naruto cries out, waving at her as they walk over to her.

“G-good morning Naruto, Sasuke.” She stutters out, her nerves haven’t left her since yesterday, and she struggled to get to sleep last night.

Sasuke picks up on this. “Did you skip breakfast Hinata?” He asks her, seeing her nod. He reaches into his pockets and pulls out two apples. “Eat, I have a feeling we’ll need our energy today. Naruto and I both had breakfast.” He goes on to explain to her that they expect the exam to be something that isn’t immediately obvious, as the pass rate is 0 over several years.

“Thank you.” She says gratefully, eating the apples quickly in case Kakashi shows up and catches her. Throwing the cores into the woods when she’s done. 

It ends up being unnecessary because Kakashi is once again very late. The hours tick over slowly, the Genin sitting down in mostly silence. Eventually, Kakashi does turn up, appearing in a puff of smoke and a wave. “Good morning guys. Sorry I’m late, I ran into a black cat so I had to take the long way to get here.” He explains lamely.

None of them buy it, with Hinata only smiling weakly and nodding. Kakashi motions for them to follow him into the training ground. He stops and turns to them, and reaches into his pocket, producing a large alarm clock which he places on a large stump. Three lunchboxes join the clock, and then two bells appear in his hands.

“Today, the three of you will be attempting to take these two bells from me before the timer, which will be set to exactly 2 hours, runs out. Anyone who doesn’t get a bell will be sent back to the Academy immediately.” He tells them, single eye showing his seriousness.

“But Kakashi…there’s only two bells.” Naruto says to his brother, not quite understanding how it works.

“Exactly. That means that at best, one of you will fail today.” He says firmly, showing nothing in his body language or words.

The three all go tense at that. Hinata is thinking that she should simply quit right now. There is no way Naruto and Sasuke will fail to get bells, they’re best friends and the strongest in their year. She can feel her body shake a little as the reality of her impending failure begins to sink in.

Narutos mind is a whirl at this. He can’t believe his brother would be this cruel. They were all going to fail. He knew his brother was strong, even if every student that graduated went up against him at the same time they wouldn’t get those bells from him if he wanted to keep them. He finally gets a team, a really good team, even Hinata seemed really nice, and now they’re all going back.

Sasukes mind is churning through the information he’s been given. Two bells, three Genin, two hours, 1 Jonin. Not just any Jonin either, it’s Kakashi they need to beat. Something seems off about this all, but he can’t seem to put his finger on it right now. He just needs some more time to think.

“Begin.” Kakashi says, his hand reaching back into his weapons pouch.

The three Genin all fly away as fast as they can, causing Kakashi to chuckle as he pulls his beloved Icha Icha from his pouch, flipping it open and finding the page he had been at before. He senses them out as he reads, feeling their movements as the all settle. Hinata and Sasuke are rather close together, but Naruto is much closer to him. Good, he needs to set an example, and it’s better if its Naruto he does it with. He’d left a Shadow Clone in the woods ahead of time, a little bit of cheating sure, but it doesn’t matter right now. Said Clone was heading towards Naruto from behind, as his brother was keeping his eyes on the real him in the clearing.

Sasuke is running, slowly and quietly, but running none the less. He needs to meet up with his team mates, he definitely needs Hinata though. Her Byakugan will be an enormous tool for them right now, and if he can find her first she can help him find Naruto. He moves through the woods, his ears straining for any kind of sound. Eventually he hears someone moving nearby, and he stealthily approaches.

Hinata was currently in the middle of a crisis. She knows only too well that she cannot stand up to anyone else on this team on her own, let alone their Jonin sensei, a man of enormous renown in Konoha. On the other hand, she cannot simply quit. She has come too far, pushed herself too hard to give up. She’s on Narutos team, she cannot give up the chance to stay on his team, but she knows that if anyone is missing out on a bell it will be her. So she’s in a predicament. She can try and fail, or simply give up and fail. She slides back from her view of the clearing, deciding to at least try to find Naruto or Sasuke before she decides what to do. At least she can help them find each other.

It’s then that Sasuke appears before Hinata, and she nearly gasps before Sasuke puts his hand on her mouth, holding up his index finger to his mouth. She nods, and he returns it before lowering his hand. 

“Keep your voice down okay? We don’t know what he can do, but he can likely hear us from the clearing if we’re too loud. Have you seen Naruto?” He asks her.

Hinata shakes her head. “No I haven’t, not since we separated. I can find him though.” She says, standing up and activating her Byakugan. She scans the woods, and spots Naruto, and a slowly approaching Kakashi. “I found him, Kakashi sensei is approaching him from behind.” She says quickly, standing up and ready to move towards Naruto. 

“But he’s in the clearing…Shadow Clones.” Sasuke says. “Doesn’t matter which is which, we need to get to Naruto now.” Sasuke finishes, gesturing for Hinata to lead the way and following her as she begins to run.

Naruto was in the process of trying to break down what his brother had said and what it meant for his team. Someone is going back to the Academy, and potentially all of them could. He’s about to rant angrily when he hears a crack behind him, and he spins, throwing a fist out as he does so. Kakashi catches the hand and smiles at his brother.

“Hello Naruto. Are you having fun?” Kakashi asks him.

Naruto growls in annoyance and tries to get a kick in, only for that to be dodged, and Kakashi to throw him at a tree. Naruto hits the tree hard, air erupting from his lungs and he begins to cough and wheeze. Kakashi doesn’t give him time to recover, getting in close and throwing a few slow jabs at Naruto who is doing everything he can to block them whilst out of breath. Kakashi slips a jab past his guard and slams his fist into Narutos face, who goes spinning into the ground. Naruto leaps up and turns back, not seeing Kakashi. He glances around furiously, looking for his brother and not finding him. Before he can react, Kakashis hands pop up out of the ground and grab his ankles, causing Naruto to cry out in surprise just as he’s dragged into the ground and Kakashi pops up out of it. Naruto finds himself buried up to his neck in the ground, and he glares at Kakashi sourly.

“Sorry Naruto, but I had to make an example out of one of you.” He says with his eye crinkling happily, before vanishing in a puff of smoke. 

“Fuckin Kakashi.” Naruto swears angrily, trying to get out of the ground but finding himself unable to do so. His eyes are closed in anger as he can only hope Sasuke or Hinata will come and save him.

About 10 minutes later Sasuke and Hinata arrive and find Naruto buried in the ground. Naruto is glaring at Sasuke, who has an actual full mouthed smile on his face and trying desperately not to laugh. They get him out of the ground, and are huddled in a circle.

“We need a plan. None of us can beat him alone, I don’t even think all of us can but we can’t get the bells without all of us.” Naruto tells them, having experienced his brothers skill first hand, and telling them the whole story as they dug him out.

Sasuke nods after Naruto speaks. “I agree. We’ll come up with a plan and go at him together.” He says, looking over at Hinata.

“I-I don’t know how much I can contribute, but if you wish to have me with you then I will do my best.” She says nervously, her brow crinkled with worry.

“C’mon Hinata! We can do it if we work together.” Naruto says, suddenly wishing he hadn’t given such a grim outlook on their prospective success.

Hinata smiles at him, but it’s barely a smile, the worry is clear on her face. Sasuke decides to stamp that out.

“Hinata. I don’t know why you doubt yourself and right now I don’t care. We need to work as a team or we won’t win. Put your doubt aside for now and listen.” He tells her, and begins to outline his plan. It mostly involved Naruto spamming his Shadow Clones while the two of them attempted to close in on Kakashi. It wasn’t too complicated but it didn’t need to be. 

15 minutes later and Naruto strolls into the clearing, heading towards Kakashi. He seems confident, a smile on his face as he stops about 20 meters away from his brother, and forms the seal for the Shadow Clones. Without a word he summons about 30 Clones, and they begin their attack. They rush at him from almost all angles, aside from behind him, which gives Kakashi some room to manoeuvre as he begins to beat down on the Clones with abandon. Showing his speed and agility, Kakashi has yet to be touched and the Clones numbers are dropping rapidly. Naruto quickly forms another seal and summons about 30 more, this time some of them appear behind him. It makes little difference, Kakashi is a force to be reckoned with, slamming fists and feet into the Clones, redirecting their attacks to take out one another. 

Naruto simply watches as his Clones get beaten into the ground. He didn’t expect them to do more than keep Kakashi busy, and since using any Jutsu would be overkill, he knows Kakashi will simply use Taijutsu. He summons some more Clones, waiting for Sasuke and Hinata to get into position. Once he knows they’re ready, he’ll enter the battle himself. He winces as he sees Kakashi put a particularly vicious kick into a Clones face. Ouch.

Kakashi knows that Naruto is simply keeping him busy. He doesn’t know what the Genin will do, but knowing Naruto and Sasuke it’ll be particularly devious, especially if Naruto still has it out for him burying him in the ground from before. His Clone hadn’t dispelled before, it had Body Flickered up onto a tree and watched them come together and decide to team up. Out of fairness he’d had the Clone dispel then. He wanted to give them a fighting chance and see what they were capable of. They’d already passed the actual exam by displaying team work, but it wouldn’t hurt to see what they could come up with. He throws a Clone into a group of others hard, dispelling them.

Naruto, having seen Sasuke give him the signal, summons about 50 Clones this time, and runs into the battle himself. They get in nice and close, and after Kakashi has beaten about half of them, about 40 more Clones come streaming out of the trees at Kakashi. Kakashis grins seeing that many held in reserve. He’s not worried, just surprised. He keeps fighting, slamming his fist into a Clone, and when it doesn’t pop his eyes widen a little bit, this is the real Naruto. He latches onto his hand and pulls him in close, going to throw him at another Clone. As he does so, another Naruto dashes in, moving oddly and throwing out its hand. His eye goes wider, that’s the Gentle Fist, and that isn’t a Naruto Clone, it’s Hinata. He feels her hand connect with his knee, and before she can hit him again, he pulls the real Naruto that is still in his hand, and throws him at Hinata. He hears them groan and the Transformation dispels, revealing her as they both slide away.

It’s then that Kakashi is faced with more Clones, taking advantage of his momentary distraction and closing the distance. All of them are leaping at him and he’s forced to use more effort than before to keep them from the bells. He dodges, weaves, slamming out hard fists into the Clones faces. He has to spin as he feels one Clone touch the bells, hammering his fist down hard and dispelling it. He dodges a Clones tackle, watching it roll away on the ground. He then turns and eyes the remaining Clones when he feels a slight burst of wind. His eyes widen a little bit when he realises he forgot Sasuke. He goes to turn, but his knee shakes ever so slightly from Hinatas strike to it. He grunts and pushes through it, spinning fast enough to see Sasuke about to grab the bells; he’s so close his finger almost brushes against it before Kakashi kicks out quickly, sending Sasuke over towards Naruto and Hinata. The timer goes off, and Kakashi sighs. 

He walks over to his team, smiling down at them as they groan and sit up. They look beaten and dejected. “Well guys, I have to say you did your best, but nobody got a bell even after teaming up like you should have.” He says, seeing the depressed look in their eyes.

“Which means…you all…pass.” He says lightly, his eye crinkled as he sees them go from depressed, to shocked, to happy, to furious.

“WHAT!?” Naruto screams out loudly, causing Sasuke to wince in pain and elbow him.

“Not so loud! I do agree with the idiot though. What and how?” Sasuke asks him. 

“The real test was team work. The time limit and an unbeatable opponent are all designed to force you to work together, but it can’t be too obvious so the bells are used as a distraction, to take your focus away from the real goal, which is to beat me. You cannot beat me without your team, as you saw today. You very nearly got me Sasuke, I dare say one more hit from Hinata would have slowed me enough for you to do so.” He says, turning to Hinata. “And excellent strike Hinata, you immediately took advantage of Narutos opening, and against anyone besides a Jonin, you would have disabled them quickly.” He says with a smile.

Naruto grins and puts his hand on Hinatas shoulder, making the poor girl blush quite heavily, but she has a large grin on her face. They’d passed, and she’d helped them do so. This day could not get any better.

“Okay team, meet up here tomorrow at 8am for our first real training session. The day after we will begin missions.” Kakashi says, grabbing the clock and lunchboxes, which they hadn’t needed. Oh well, he can feed them to his dogs. He vanishes in a puff of smoke.

Naruto grins, and stands up, bouncing excitedly. “We did it! Oh man that was awesome!” He says, grinning at his team mates. Sasuke smirks back, Hinata smiles as well.

“Oh I know! How about we go get lunch as a team?” He asks them, knowing Sasuke will agree, but hoping Hinata will too.

“Fine, but no ramen. You eat like a cow when you do and Hinata doesn’t need to see that.” Sasuke says smartly, walking away.

Hinata giggles at Narutos growl as he then looks at her, a questioning look on his face. “I would love to come, Naruto.” She says to him, a large smile on her face. Never mind, it had just gotten better, somehow.

Narutos smile blooms, and he walks along beside Hinata as they head towards the centre of Konoha. Sasuke is walking ahead; as he knows full well that Hinata has a crush on Naruto. Hell only Naruto is too thick to notice. A girl that blushes, and occasionally faints when she’s around you and you don’t notice? Sometimes he wondered how Naruto could walk and breathe at the same time. He can hear Naruto chattering away to Hinata, going through how awesome her Gentle Fist had been. Asking if she can teach him, as he’d like to use it on Sasuke one day and leave him for the fan girls unable to escape, he hears Hinata laugh at that. Sasuke shivers at the very thought of it.

They walk into central Konoha, find a sushi restaurant and sit down. Their table is quickly full of food, and their conversation quickly stops as they devour their food. The survival exam maybe have been short, but it had taken a lot out of them, besides Kakashi had been a bit over 2 hours late. Once the food is cleared away, they’re sipping on glasses of water and talking once more.

“Hinata, why do you doubt your abilities?” Sasuke ask her, quietly though so as not to sound too brutal, he had been before but that was necessary.

Hinata seems to deflate ever so slightly. “I…My father is always highly critical of my ability…I know I am not the strongest…” She says, trailing off.

Sasuke grunts, knowing all about critical fathers. Naruto simply frowns, and then looks at her, as she’s staring down at her glass.

“But Hinata, you couldn’t have been top Kunoichi if you were weak.” He tells her, a grin on his face as he tries to cheer her up.

“Naruto is right. He might be one to attempt to cheer people up with unfounded words. I do not compliment unnecessarily though. You are strong Hinata, you just lack the will to act on it at times. We will work on that with you.” Sasuke says.

Hinata feels her eyes grow misty, and she smiles at her team mates as she rubs the tears out of her eyes. “Thank you. Sasuke…Naruto…” She says, a real smile on her face now.

The two simply nod and smile back. Naruto taking in how pretty she looks when she smiles like that. A light blush finds his cheeks as he thinks how he hadn’t noticed it before, but Hinata was kind of beautiful. Pale skin, those large eyes, her high cheekbones...her…well bust…okay, focus, no checking her out when she’s right there. He shakes his head for a moment, cheeks still a little red, and he realises Hinata is looking out the window. He sighs softly, and looks to his right, and sees Sasuke grinning at him, his eyes pinning him in his seat. Sasuke noticed. He’ll never let Naruto live it down, ever. 

Sasuke has to fight down a chuckle as he sees Naruto admiring Hinata. Not that he blames him of course, he’d think someone blind if they said the girl wasn’t beautiful. It was just funny that it took this long for him to actually notice. Sasuke would have known if Naruto had checked the girl out, he makes it obvious whenever he does. He goes silent, which is the biggest sign, and then his eyes rather obviously travel over them, and his face lights up red. He just did all 3 while looking at Hinata. Well, this will make the team more interesting at least.

They pay for their meals, and head out, walking slowly through Konoha. Naruto and Sasuke walk Hinata home first, at Narutos insistence of course. Though Sasuke knows that isn’t because of the attraction, it’s just how Naruto is. They drop her off, waving bye and watching her walk into the compound. They then head towards the Uchiha District.

“You checked out Hinata.” Sasuke says with a laugh.

“Shut it. You think she isn’t pretty?” Naruto asks, glaring at him with a red face.

“Of course she is, it’s just funny you took this long to notice. Hell it took you like 5 minutes to notice Sakura, but 4 years to notice Hinata?” He throws back with a laugh.

Naruto groans in annoyance. “You won’t tell her will you? Or Kakashi.” He says, fearing Kakashi the most.

“I promise I won’t tell Hinata, Kakashi I can’t do.” He says, the corner of his mouth quirking up.

Naruto groans again. “I hate you.”

Sasuke actually laughs a little then, reaching the Uchiha District. He waves bye to Naruto and heads down the road. Naruto walking back to his apartment, a large grin on his face. His team is pretty great, even if Sasuke was a jerk.


End file.
